- Date
- August 17, 2001, 10:15 local (15:15 UTC)
- Place
- New Braunfels, TX
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5286ZCessna 421B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 1, 2002
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA Flight Standards District Office
- FAA report
- 20010817031949A
- Case key
- 53061
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
the pilot's inadequate flare of the airplane resulting in a hard landing. A contributing factor was the crosswind.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
During a crosswind landing on runway 13, the twin-engine airplane touched down hard, and the right main landing gear collapsed. The reported wind was from 200 degrees at 11 knots. The pilot did not submit a Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report (NTSB Form 6120.1/2).
Factual narrative
On August 17, 2001, at 1015 central daylight time, a Cessna 421B, twin-engine airplane, N5286Z, sustained substantial damage during a hard landing on runway 13 at the New Braunfels Municipal Airport, New Braunfels, Texas. The airplane was owned and operated by the pilot under Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The private pilot, a pilot rated passenger, and two other passengers were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the cross-country flight, and a flight plan was not filed. The personal flight departed Duncan, Oklahoma, at 0900.
The pilot reported to the FAA inspector, who responded to the accident site, that during the crosswind landing, the airplane touched down "hard." Subsequently, the airplane veered to the right, collapsed the right main landing gear, and came to rest with the right wing resting in the dirt off the side of the runway.
The FAA inspector found tire marks, gouges, and propeller slash marks in the asphalt runway to the left of the centerline. The structural components of the right main landing gear wheel well were twisted and buckled, and the right wing skin was wrinkled and buckled. The right fuel tip tank was found separated at the aft attachment point. When the aircraft was recovered from the runway, the extension mechanisms, for both main landing gear and the nose landing gear, were found in the "down and locked" position.
At 0915 and 1025, the weather observation facility at New Braunfels, reported the wind from 200 degrees at 11 knots.
Numerous attempts to obtain a completed Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report (NTSB Form 6120.1/2) were unsuccessful.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5286Z
- Reported as
- Cessna 421B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 421B0125
- Airframe hours
- 9,800
- Engine
- Continental GTSIO-520-L, 375 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- David P. Newman
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- DUC · Duncan, OK
- Destination
- BAZ · New Braunfels, TX
- Airport
- BAZ · New Braunfels Municipal, runway 13, 5,352 × 100 ft, asphalt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 51
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Last flight review
- February 23, 1998
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 80 total · 80 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 200° at 11 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,200 ft broken
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 73 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.11 inHg
- Observed at
- BAZ
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.